After the fight, when everything had started to die down, I realized that I had just ruined my best friend’s wedding. I could see the disappointment in his face but when I explained to him what had really happened, he found it hard to believe that there are still people out there that actually torture people for being themselves. The guests kept on asking what had happened and I was just so angry at them because not even one of them stepped up to help calm the situation. I just sat down and took everything in and when I realized that my Lincoln was lying on the floor bloody and unconscious, tears just started falling from my eyes. Gabriel brought me a glass of sugar water. The situation brought all the gays closer, we realized from then onwards that we are still fighting for our freedom and that an injury to one should be experienced by all of us. We took a stand and fought to save one of us. We were a family. The need for pretence and useless fights started to become unnecessary because we learnt that day that we were faced with a bigger challenge than we thought possible.
The ambulance made its way to the wedding and Lincoln was taken to the hospital. He cried in agony when they placed him on the stretcher. It pierced right through my heart, I felt as if they had stabbed me repeatedly. One of the paramedics asked who Earl was. When I responded he told me that Lincoln wanted me to go to the hospital with him. As I sat in the back of that van, Lincoln kept on apologizing and I told him to stop. He was dizzy and he couldn’t speak. His clothes were covered in blood. Normally blood would traumatize me, but at that moment, I couldn’t even smell it. I was stronger than I actually thought I was.
As soon as we arrived at the hospital, Lincoln was rushed to the emergency room where I was denied access. I felt so angry. I was so angry that at that particular moment I felt like taking whatever weapon I could find to destroy Anthony and his friends. How does your own brother almost beat you to death because of your sexual orientation? How does that happen? Up to this day I cannot stand homophobic people. I just look at them and ask myself if they are aware of the fact that they have a bigger struggle than we do, we have accepted ourselves and the reason why they can’t be happy with that is because they’re not happy with themselves, and we have to pay for their bullshit and their insecurities. It is just heart provoking, I cannot stand it, I will not, and I pray that I never come across such again because at this rate, I would run them over just to make life easier... for them!
Sihle, Malcolm, Thebe and Gabriel came to the hospital. The first thing they all asked me was how Lincoln was doing. I also didn’t know. I sat there for almost an hour waiting for some form of communication from anyone who bothered to tell me. I looked at Gabriel and he showed a genuine concern in Lincoln’s state of being. Being gay has to be one of the bravest things one can ever be. We obviously don’t choose it, but the way in which we embrace it is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Gabriel was a guy that didn’t know Lincoln moments before he was moved by his state of being. Gay bashing creates a fear in us and that stops us from achieving our goals. Homophobic people know how much power we have over the world and they try to can us down so that we don’t take over. It won’t stop, they only make us stronger.
The doctor came to tell us about Lincoln’s condition. He mentioned that he had suffered serious head injuries but that he would make a full recovery. One of his ribs had been dislocated but they wouldn’t operate on him until they were really sure what happened. The doctor then asked me to stay away from the hospital a bit because that was what Lincoln requested. Lincoln had told the doctor that I was too sensitive and probably wouldn’t handle seeing him in a compromising state all the time. Gabriel offered to be the one who comes and checks on him every day and then give me feedback. He was a kind person under all the madness.
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